LOS ANGELES -- If you feel like joy is elusive this holiday season, you're not alone.

2025 has been an especially punishing year across the planet, the nation and for Los Angeles in particular. In the past 12 months, we've witnessed homes destroyed by fire, families broken up by ICE, skyrocketing anti-trans hate and massive layoffs across the ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Observing a young man in a wheelchair with motor impairment struggle to communicate with his parents profoundly affected Chetan Jaiswal.

Jaiswal is an associate professor of computer science at Quinnipiac University.

After meeting the boy at an occupational therapy conference in 2022, Jaiswal decided that more could be done...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

My son is 10 years old and about to turn 11. We have a great relationship with him, and besides some minor behavior issues (occasionally forgetting to clean up a mess, losing homework, getting mad at his younger sister over silly fights), we really don't have any major problems. People like to remind me to "just wait until ...Read more

Q. Our kids seem overwhelmed since the breakup. This is their first holiday in two separate homes, and they are having trouble even knowing how to talk about the holidays. They're also clingier during exchanges, waking up at night and constantly asking who they'll be with. We keep telling them everything will be OK, but nothing is helping. What'...Read more

It’s easy to get swept away in the latest viral holiday trend or marketing push. This year, it’s a Ralph Lauren Christmas. Don’t miss the Viral TikTok garland. Stuff your stockings with lippies, digital cameras and ice rollers. Hide the elf on the shelf in a new place every day.

But many of us can’t afford a whole new haul of holiday ...Read more

The labor and delivery portrayed in the Christmas story has been highly sanitized. We have softened the realities of Christ’s birth with pillowy mounds of straw, cattle gently lowing, moonlight streaming in through strategically placed windows and an inexperienced husband attending the birth like a seasoned OB/GYN who has delivered hundreds.

...Read more

ATLANTA -- Anxious, depressed, isolated and worthless — that’s how the DeKalb County School District said its 91,000 students increasingly feel. From TikTok to YouTube, Georgia’s third-largest school district points to a $4 million social media addiction problem.

Now, paired with new research from the University of Georgia, phone use is ...Read more

EDITOR’S NOTE: Editorial Page editor Megan Schrader takes a side in the “real vs. fake” Christmas tree debate. Look for the counterpoint by Features coordinator Barbara Ellis, slugged HOME-TREES-DEBATE-FAKE:DP.

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If you’ve tried to buy a fresh Christmas tree since 2020, the sticker shock probably drove you to check out the plastic ...Read more

When it comes to household chores, I work for free. And I’m worth every penny.

But since I’m on a fixed income, I am thinking of charging for my services.

“You don’t do anything,” said my wife, Sue, who is the family banker.

“That’s not true,” I replied defensively.

“What do you do, take out the garbage?” she said.

“...Read more

EDITOR’S NOTE: Features coordinator Barbara Ellis takes a side in the “real vs. fake” Christmas tree debate. Look for the counterpoint by Editorial Page editor Megan Schrader, slugged HOME-TREES-DEBATE-REAL:DP.

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I can still see my dad, hand slapping his forehead, looking exasperated, as my mom instructed (OK, bossed) him on how to �...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Traveling near the Warehouse District with Derrek Miranda is akin to riding in a motorcade with an elected official.

Under the moniker Whitewallstuntz, Miranda has carved out a name for himself in downtown Los Angeles. On social media, he can be seen cutting through the most downtrodden parts of Skid Row on his white and neon ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — During the first four years of California's new transitional kindergarten program, 167 community-based preschools in Los Angeles County shut down, unable to financially survive amid enrollment drops or pivot to more costly infant and toddler care, according to new U.C. Berkeley research.

The closures represent some painful and ...Read more

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- As Jay Morris describes how he and a bunch of helpers use chunks of donated wood to create children’s toys each Christmas, one of those volunteers interrupts.

“Jay, we got a wobbly,” neighbor Steve Wood hollers out from across the small woodshop in Morris’ basement in Lawrence, Kansas.

Just like a head elf would do at...Read more

After the last winter season, I’ve started following several weather forecasting gurus. They all seem to be on the sensationalist side of journalism, but it makes it a lot of fun. It keeps me second guessing whether the collapse of the polar vortex is a good thing or a bad thing. As a horticulturist I know one thing and that is that Snow is in...Read more

LOS ANGELES — "Face! Center! Low! Hit him hard!"

The shouts — a husky voice with a Southern surf bro twang — echoed in the dojo as a 4-year-old blond boy with a headband reading "Lil' Dragon" punched up at a scowling mannequin.

"Kiiiiick! Don't jump. Just kick. … Yeahhh!"

More shouts. A huge smile from the tiny boy, a karate student ...Read more

BALTIMORE -- A yearslong surge in displaced roosters is overwhelming animal sanctuaries in Maryland and across the country, fueled by a pandemic-born boom in backyard chicken coops and the noisy realities of owning a male bird.

“All the time — calls, emails, text messages wanting us to take roosters,” said Cathy Rogers, executive ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I’m 24 and recently started seeing a guy I’ve had a crush on for six months. We finally went on two dates and both went incredibly well. He was affectionate, introduced me to his friends, cooked me dinner, even cleared a little space on his bathroom shelf for my toothbrush. It all felt very sweet and intentional, and I left his ...Read more

I got this interesting question recently, and it made me think. And when things make me think, you know I have to write about them!

Q: How do I balance ‘You deserve zero red flags’ with the reality that no one is perfect? Thank you!

A: Those are VERY different things. A red flag, by my definition, is objective: Someone is rude to people. ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Elliot Copen, 17, was worried the Scouting America camp he had visited dozens of times in an undeveloped canyon of the Santa Monica Mountains would feel empty.

The Palisades fire roared down the canyon 11 months ago, destroying the historic lodge and its Hogwarts-like interior (albeit without the “flying balls,” Copen noted),...Read more

If you’re rethinking whether to spread the holiday cheer by tipping this year, you might not be alone. Fewer Americans are planning to tip their service providers this holiday season compared to last year — from their housekeepers, trash collectors and gardeners to mail carriers, teachers and childcare providers.

More than half of U.S. ...Read more